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Jaishawn Barham #1 of the Michigan Wolverines was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.

One of the great attractions of NFL football, or of football in general, is the inherent competition that goes into the sport. Every Sunday (or Monday, or Thursday, or now sometimes Wednesday, Friday and Saturday), teams line up, knock each other around for 60 minutes and see who comes out on top. But even before that, part of the drama of the league is the competition that goes on within a team, and that’s where Dallas Cowboys backers should likely take notice of Jaishawn Barham, the rookie third-round pick from Michigan who has been hailed for his versatility as an inside and outside linebacker.

But Barham has also been hailed for his intensity. And according to former Dallas Cowboys receiver Jesse Holley, who now is an analyst for the DLLS Cowboys site, he showed that fire last week after Holley was among the veterans invited to speak to the team’s promising rookie class.

Barham impressed Holley, who said, “We may have one with Jaishawn Barham.”

Cowboys Banking on Versatility

Now, again, Barham is still a work in progress and while the hope is that he can fill a role with the team on the inside among the linebacking crew, he is a bit of a tweener for the Cowboys. New defensive coordinator Christian Parker has embraced that with Barham, but sometimes versatile tweeners are better in theory than they are in practice.

Parker is not so worried about that.

“The best thing is you don’t have to project it, because you see it. At both Maryland and Michigan, he’s playing both spots. He’s off the ball, he’s playing on the edge, they’re playing Ohio State, it’s goal line, he’s three yards behind the nose and is tracking the football,” Parker said of Barham.

Jaishawn Barham Impresses in Cowboys Session

But if attitude has anything to do with it, Holley said, watch out for Barham. Expect him to be on the field for the Cowboys in 2026, one way or another.

“I am speaking to these rookies and I am watching how they are interacting, Jaishawn Barham is watching, he is taking notes,” Holley recalled. “When we were done, about 90% of the rookies left the room. Jaishawn Barham stayed for another 20, 25 minutes, asking questions, wanting to know more, wanting to know, ‘What are some of the ways that you study? What are some of the ways that you do this?’”

Jaishawn Barham: ‘I Want to Take a Job’

And then, to wrap up the Cowboys rookie session, Holley recalled that Barham had a warning for the veteran linebackers in the group, one that any fan of competition could get behind: He wants your job.

Holley continued: “Consistently digging into the conversation of, how can I get better. And he is like, ‘I want to take a job.’ That’s what he said, I want to take a job. He didn’t say whose job, he just said, ‘I want to take a job.’

“And he understands the level that is put on the shoulders of this young men, this class in particular, to change this little 30-year (Super Bowl) drought. I was highly, highly, highly impressed with Jaishawn Barham. Now, I don’t know what he is gonna be on the field. But I was highly impressed with the person.”